Vagrant Story

fake · Jul 4, 2018

A friend and I rented Vagrant Story from Blockbuster when it first came out. We were about 13 and had no idea what we were doing. But I thought it was cool so I bought it when it went down to $20. It was still over my head, so I only got a few hours in before giving up.

I've been going through my old PS1 and Xbox games that I haven't finished and started Vagrant Story last week. Since it's been so long it was like starting fresh and I was blown away by the presentation and direction. The opening was very movie-like in terms of tone, editing, etc. And as a full-grown human, I've been able to grasp the equipment, stats, spells, and chaining abilities much better. It's definitely one of the coolest PS1 games and is a great example of a JRPG that doesn't follow the Final Fantasy / Dragon Quest playbook.

So first of all, I was wondering what everyone else thought of the game.

Second, I was wondering if I'm missing anything. As much as I love the game - I'm about 2/3 through and just beat the demon chicken and unlocked Teleport - I do feel like I'm doing something wrong...

Sometimes I'll be fighting enemies who will have a hit % of 80-100% and a big damage estimate. But other times I'll come across enemies that have 50% or below hit %s and very low damage estimates. I'll switch between edged, piercing, and blunt weapons and very little will change. So I'll end up de-buffing the enemies if possible, but then the enemy will just buff back up. I've been upgrading my weapons but haven't been using a guide, so I've got good Hagane weapons, but they're probably not top tier. So I'm not really sure if it's just the game being difficult or I'm doing something wrong.

Kid Panda · Jul 4, 2018

Game is amazing, I was blown away by it when it first came out. It's an awesome game and does have a NG+ plus a huge multi level optional dungeon. Too bad it didn't do well commercially even though it was a critical success.

fake · Jul 4, 2018

Kid Panda said:
Game is amazing, I was blown away by it when it first came out. It's an awesome game and does have a NG+ plus a huge multi level optional dungeon. Too bad it didn't do well commercially even though it was a critical success.

Yeah, I dunno if it's because of the PS2's launch or what. There weren't really any huge RPG releases in 2000. FFIX came out, but IIRC it wasn't received too well. I'd imagine RPG appetites would've been high and Vagrant Story would've hit the spot.

I'd love to see another sphere-based game like VS or Parasite Eve on current hardware.

Dochartaigh · Jul 4, 2018

I absolutely loved this back in the day. Tried playing it again and the graphics were just blaa to me... I'll try it again on my hacked Vita which with it's small screen I find I enjoy PS1 type 3D graphics a lot better (and will give me something to play while out of the house too...beat Final Fantasy VII and VIII on the Vita so far

Mr. Mort · Jul 4, 2018

I picked it up when it first came out. Awesome presentation & art style, but the whole crafting system seemed too complicated & tedious. I was horrible at it as a result, and it’s an integral part of the game. If you suck at it, enemies are almost impossible to defeat. I got frustrated & just gave up, but that was over 20 years ago, and my memory may be shoddy.

fake · Jul 4, 2018

Mr. Mort said:
I picked it up when it first came out. Awesome presentation & art style, but the whole crafting system seemed too complicated & tedious. I was horrible at it as a result, and it’s an integral part of the game. If you suck at it, enemies are almost impossible to defeat. I got frustrated & just gave up, but that was over 20 years ago, and my memory may be shoddy.

Yeah, it's really frustrating. I think it's a technical limitation that could've been easily fixed by making some gameplay changes. You can only carry 8 assembled weapons and you need to keep the rest in storage. But accessing the storage box (only at certain save points) takes forever because it takes so long to scan the memory card, which is where the storage box data is stored. Every time you enter or exit the box, you have to save / load and it takes a long time. If you could take out a ton of stuff, it would be a pretty painless process. But since you can only have 8 weapons at a time, you spend a lot of time going in and out of the storage box. If you could have, say, 20 weapons, you wouldn't need to use the storage box nearly as often.

My workaround has been to just disassemble everything that isn't in my group of main weapons, put them all in storage, and then pull out what I think can be combined to form something more powerful.

Late · Jul 7, 2018

Brilliant game, one of my favorite Square titles. Definitely underrated, or at least kind of flew under the radar when it was released.

Montatez · Jul 7, 2018

Bought it when it was released after renting it. Truly a great title. Some might even consider it a "Grail".

fake · Jul 7, 2018

I just got as far as possible on the first playthrough in the Iron Maiden. Hopefully I can craft some good gear. I think I’m going to run around previous locations to stock up of items.

cat · Jul 7, 2018

I got it when it was first released, no doubt about it, a great game but way too complicated for me.
It got great reviews when it came out like KP said, but it was a bit of a hard slog to play (for me anyway).
I'm a lazy arcady type gamer at heart so it was a bad choice for me, still kept it though, i always thought i'd go back to it and put the effort in to learn the game but it never happened.
TBH i ended up playing other square games from that era way more, parasite eve 1 and 2, brave fencer, einhander, ff tactics.

fake · Jul 7, 2018

cat said:
I got it when it was first released, no doubt about it, a great game but way too complicated for me.
It got great reviews when it came out like KP said, but it was a bit of a hard slog to play (for me anyway).
I'm a lazy arcady type gamer at heart so it was a bad choice for me, still kept it though, i always thought i'd go back to it and put the effort in to learn the game but it never happened.
TBH i ended up playing other square games from that era way more, parasite eve 1 and 2, brave fencer, einhander, ff tactics.

I do need to play through Brave Fencer Musahi. I loved the character design as a kid so I bought it when it was super cheap at Toys R Us but I never got far. Parasite Eve is great - similar combat system to Vagrant Story - and the music is some of the best from the era.

Montatez · Jul 7, 2018

cat said:
TBH i ended up playing other square games from that era way more, parasite eve 1 and 2, brave fencer, einhander, ff tactics.

Played all those square games from that era were amazing.

cat · Jul 8, 2018

Yeah square pretty much had the midas touch back then, but they did release the odd stinker, chocobo racing anyone.

oldschool · Jul 11, 2018

I've had similar experiences with VS. I rented it initially and was blown away by the art style and storytelling. Later owned it when I started collecting more seriously but I gave up on it rather quickly. The RPG genre was never my thing, but I am enjoying them more as an older gamer. If I only had 4-5 hours a week to play, I would prefer to grind out characters. :-J

Viewpoint · Jul 13, 2018

fakeXsound said:
A friend and I rented Vagrant Story from Blockbuster when it first came out. We were about 13 and had no idea what we were doing. But I thought it was cool so I bought it when it went down to $20. It was still over my head, so I only got a few hours in before giving up.

I've been going through my old PS1 and Xbox games that I haven't finished and started Vagrant Story last week. Since it's been so long it was like starting fresh and I was blown away by the presentation and direction. The opening was very movie-like in terms of tone, editing, etc. And as a full-grown human, I've been able to grasp the equipment, stats, spells, and chaining abilities much better. It's definitely one of the coolest PS1 games and is a great example of a JRPG that doesn't follow the Final Fantasy / Dragon Quest playbook.

So first of all, I was wondering what everyone else thought of the game.

Second, I was wondering if I'm missing anything. As much as I love the game - I'm about 2/3 through and just beat the demon chicken and unlocked Teleport - I do feel like I'm doing something wrong...

Sometimes I'll be fighting enemies who will have a hit % of 80-100% and a big damage estimate. But other times I'll come across enemies that have 50% or below hit %s and very low damage estimates. I'll switch between edged, piercing, and blunt weapons and very little will change. So I'll end up de-buffing the enemies if possible, but then the enemy will just buff back up. I've been upgrading my weapons but haven't been using a guide, so I've got good Hagane weapons, but they're probably not top tier. So I'm not really sure if it's just the game being difficult or I'm doing something wrong.

I don't always agree with your posts but I approve of this thread.

You should look into Vandel Hearts also. Totally underrated PS1 game that is a definite must own Strat RPG for the system.

fake · Jul 27, 2018

Viewpoint said:
I don't always agree with your posts but I approve of this thread.

You should look into Vandel Hearts also. Totally underrated PS1 game that is a definite must own Strat RPG for the system.

I'm too anxious to handle strategy RPGs, especially since a lot of them have permadeath. I've tried FF Tactics and some NIS games, but they all stressed me out too much. :lolz:

I finished Vagrant Story tonight. It's definitely tough, and now that I understand the systems, I think a second playthrough would be more manageable, but either way, it's an amazing game and maybe has the best production values of any PS1 game. I'd equate the difficulty to Dark Souls - it's pretty tough, but you feel an equal sense of accomplishment when you finish a section you thought was impossible a few days before. I really wish they made an art book to go along with it.

k'_127 · Jul 30, 2018

fakeXsound said:
I'm too anxious to handle strategy RPGs, especially since a lot of them have permadeath. I've tried FF Tactics and some NIS games, but they all stressed me out too much.

I liked FFT mainly for the story but most S.RPG's that came afterward tried to copy it and turned out garbage (including its sequels and Disgaea, IMO).

Don't miss on Shining Force 1&2. Good stories, more accessable gameplay, less emphases on grinding and more on strategy. I would highly recommend Vandal Hearts 1&2 as well, and to lesser extent, Arc the Lad 1&2.

There are also other popular SRPG titles that I haven't tried yet, including Shining Force 3 and the Fire Emblem series.

fake · Jul 30, 2018

k'_127 said:
I liked FFT mainly for the story but most S.RPG's that came afterward tried to copy it and turned out garbage (including its sequels and Disgaea, IMO).

Don't miss on Shining Force 1&2. Good stories, more accessable gameplay, less emphases on grinding and more on strategy. I would highly recommend Vandal Hearts 1&2 as well, and to lesser extent, Arc the Lad 1&2.

There are also other popular SRPG titles that I haven't tried yet, including Shining Force 3 and the Fire Emblem series.

Hmm, I'll try FF Tactics again. I do love the art style - I remember a PS magazine had a perforated cardstock insert with 9 cards with character illustrations on them. That stuff blew my mind.

k'_127 · Jul 31, 2018

Cool, although Shining Force would make a better entry point to the genre (in case you still couldn't get into FFT's gameplay, which could be slow and complex for some).

Also, forgot about Tactics Ogre. That seems to be a good SRPG as well (haven't played it yet).

Vagrant Story

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